


Her Coat is So Warm

by bigscarythings



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
Genre: Diabolical Plans, Family, Fluff, Gen, Pick Your Poison Writing Contest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 06:53:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29746647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigscarythings/pseuds/bigscarythings
Summary: Mikage has almost everything she needs for a fun winter's day — but there's just one last thing she needs in order to make it perfect.
Relationships: Yakumo Mikage & Yakumo Mitama
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Her Coat is So Warm

**Author's Note:**

> As it turns out, the 2021 winter outfits were just what I needed to break my writer's block! This is just a fluffy offering for the Pick Your Poison writing contest, under the "Nursery Rhymes/Fairy Tales" category; in particular, this story riffs off of the "I Love Little Kitty" rhyme (and the occasional _A Christmas Story_ reference). Many thanks to everyone at the Uwasa of the Lewdfic Factory server for helping me get this in shape — I hope you enjoy it, too, and that you've been staying safe and warm.

To Mikage, the perfect Kamihama Winterfest outing required several things. First of all, she had to make sure her friends were going, too – while she’d forgotten how critical friends were, there was no way she could go without them now that she had some again. Second of all, she needed the right outfit. It was obviously a must, and she’d been getting that locked down weeks in advance; navy was in, and the blouse was the mature kind of thing Mitama would wear (though the consignment shop owner had gushed more over how _cute_ Mikage was, but that was also a good thing). There were so many little things that she needed – the right ribbons, for one – and there were a lot of big things as well – like warm but appealing stockings! – but bit by bit by bit, she got everything whittled down, and soon, all she needed was...

_Just one last thing!_ A smile sprouted across her face as she finally tore away from the mirror.

Getting to the kitchen was easy enough. It wouldn’t take much to get to the entryway from there. She didn’t know exactly where Mitama was, but that was fine. There was no one in sight, and the apartment – once she listened past the TV humming from the unit above – was silent. Mikage could keep it that way. She had every creak in the floorboards committed to memory. So once she was entirely sure, she took each step, steady, easy—

“Hold it right there, Mii!”

“No!” Mikage cried, but Mitama yanked and her body flew back with it. Despite her protests, Mitama’s grip on her collar was as decisive as a mother cat seizing her kitten, and as on point as Mikage's stockings were (and they had even been on sale!), they were so _not_ made for getting traction on the floor. “How did you know?!” she squawked as the hallway spun past her. 

“You were too quiet.”

“But you said I could go out and play!”

“I did–”

“Everyone’s waiting!”

“I know–”

“Why?!”

Mitama whirled and steadied her in front of the hallway closet, her eyes ever so slightly narrowed. “You’ll freeze to death like that.”

“Like what?”

“That.” The stiffness in her jaw eased. “Sacrificing your health for fashion is a bad bargain, believe me.”

“But it makes me look—” _Just like you,_ she wanted to say, but the one time she said it, Mitama had frozen stiff like she’d threatened her with a knife. “It’s so – perfect! I spent so much on it!”

“That’s right, you did,” Mitama said, swinging open the door. “And we can make it even more perfect.”

Mikage’s eyes lit up, and she leaned around Mitama to watch her card her hand through the stash – umbrellas, jackets, sweaters– “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Mitama began, her hand resting on something weird and poofy, “since it’s Winterfest, you’ll need something warm.”

“Not _that._ ”

Mitama’s gaze flickered to the next thing – Mikage perked up at the pink flash– “If you promise you’re all going to hang out someplace warm, then you can take it off once you get there.”

“But we want to play in the snow!” Mikage said, her heart soaring, maybe with just a little too much hope.

“In that case,” Mitama began, and after some rustling, she did not pull out the poofy coat, nor the pink one, but a massive muddy-colored _thing_ that made Mikage’s heart plummet like a stone– “You’d better wear a coat!”

At first glance, it looked like it was maybe the size of her, and the second it engulfed her, she knew it was absolutely the size of her. The ends of it tickled her ankles and the starchy darkness snatched up every bit of her, and as much as she wanted to squirm and swat her way out, it was impossible. “I can’t move my arms!” she wailed.

Mitama squashed them down to her sides. “That’s to my advantage, then!”

“But we're gonna have snowball fight!”

“Well, it’ll be no good on offense, but it’s very effective on defense!”

“Pick something else out!” she insisted. “I’ll be fine!” It was to no avail. “I can heal myself if I get sick!” The zipper came up nevertheless, and she swung her head back just to keep from suffocating in the collar— “I’m a Magical Girl, too!”

And that – that certainly got Mitama’s hands to freeze. And it brought back a stark and horribly familiar tension to Mitama’s lips as well.

“I didn’t...mean it like that.” Mikage shrunk. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“I really am sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Mitama said again, pulling the zipper back down. “It’s true.”

“But…”

The coat came off and went _thunk_ around Mikage. She was pretty sure coats were not supposed to make that kind of sound. “The question is what we’ll do next,” Mitama said, scooping the coat back into the closet, relaxed enough that Mikage could believe everything really was fine.

“Like, the coat?”

“I’m not sending you out there without one,” Mitama said, wearing her sly smile again, up until her eyes fell on that little pink coat, too. “I can’t help it, Mii. I can’t help but worry. You’re my little—”

“I’m not little,” she said quickly.

“You’re not. But you are my little sister. And even if you object to that–” She bopped Mikage’s nose with her finger– “I’m always going to be your big sister.”

There wasn’t any point in hiding the big, goofy smile blossoming across her face, but Mikage tried, anyway. It might have actually worked – when she looked up, Mitama was chewing her lip in thought, her eyes remaining on that very same pink coat Mikage had seen. “That’s what I wore when I was your age.” She didn’t need to say it. Mikage remembered it so vibrantly. “I took such good care of it.” She rubbed one sleeve between her fingers. “It...has some good memories attached to it.”

Her chest felt hollow. “Oh.”

“And it surely must be out of fashion by now.”

“I guess.”

But even so, after some silence, Mitama said, “Still, if I gave that to you, Mii, would you wear it?”

And Mikage’s heart returned, springing her upright. “Okay!”

It was just as warm and cozy as she’d thought, and the color was as bright as she remembered. Before she could say as much, though, the matching scarf fell around her face and Mitama had it thoroughly bundled around her mouth. Still, her _“Noooo!”_ was unmistakable.

“Just lower it when you want to speak,” Mitama said as Mikage shook it off, before trying to get it back over Mikage’s face. When Mikage batted at her hands, however, she chuckled softly and let her go. “Alright, at least take these gloves.”

“But–!”

“You did a great job on those nails. I understand you wanting to show them off, but you’ll need these for the fight. Trust me – I don’t think it’s a violation of Coordinator-client confidentiality if I warn you that Tsuruno’s taught Ui quite a few tricks.”

“Did you use to wear these, too?”

“If I say yes, will you put them on?”

She was a trifle suspicious — the phrase _extended deep sea diving_ came to mind. But she’d need them to keep her skin from drying out, anyway, and – and _great job on those nails_ kept turning and turning in Mikage’s mind and heart. “Maybe,” she said, grinning.

Mitama patted her shoulders with that little chuckle again. “Alright, then, I think you’re all set. At least as set as I can convince you to be.” She swallowed. “Stay safe, stay warm, and–”

She flinched again, but for a good reason this time, Mikage hoped, as she wrapped her arms around Mitama and pulled her close. It was the biggest, warmest Mii hug she could offer. Even though Mitama had that thick sweater on, her face still had an odd coolness to it – one that made Mikage hold her even tighter, with all her muscle in it, until Mitama’s hands slowly, carefully went around Mikage, as though she would break. And she held her close, and still, for what felt like a very, very long time.

“You’ll be late,” Mitama eventually murmured.

“No. I’ll be okay.” Mikage hung on for a few seconds longer before finally letting go. “There! Now I’m all warmed up!”

“Be back before dinner, okay?”

“Will do! See you later!”

Her feet brought her outside the apartment complex in no time, the skies as white as the snow all around her. Before she took off – really, really took off – she wondered: _I’ve got everything, right?_

She had all her friends about to meet her – and they’d found the perfect place to hang out. Her nails were done, her outfit was great, she'd gotten her hands on the absolute best, cutest, most perfect coat in the world, and finally...

_Yeah._ She had that hug. She'd never forget that hug – how the very thought of it made her smile so warm. _Yeah, I do._


End file.
